How To Rollback/Downgrade iOS

iOS 5 is out, lots of new features, lots of upgrades, lots of fun. But what if someone does not like it? I’ve heard people trying to switch back from iOS 5 to iOS 4 for different reasons. And if you want to also do this, then all you have to do is follow this tutorial. The process is unbelievably simple (and trust me when I say this, I’m an Android user and on our side it’s much more complicated because of the many mods, custom roms, kernels and such).

How To Rollback/Downgrade iOS

Even the most recent iOS 5.1 seems to be available for downgrade. For this to work, you will need a few things, The iOS you want to install, these are all over the web, but let me help you out. I’ll give a list of download links, official from Apple, to get your prefered iOS. Obviously, to be able to downgrade your iOS, you’ll need to jailbreak your iPhone before doing that. These are stable versions, so we suggest downgrading to them.

Some might ask: “Why downgrade your iPhone in the first place?” The reason why some would want to downgrade their iPhone is for development purposes. So that developers can test their apps on different versions of iOS. Also, if someone has updated by mistake to a iOS version that does not have Jailbreak. Whatever the reason, here is the tutorial for downgrading your iPhone. For this to work, you will need a few things:

Your SHSH Blobs from the previous version of firmware you want to downgrade to. The SHSH Blobs contain your device’s ECID (digital fingerprint). So if you haven’t saved them at an earlier point when you had the old firmware, it’s most likely impossible to revert. To obtain these SHSH blobs, you need to run RedSn0w, TinyUmbrella or iFaith. These are the backbones of any iPhone hacker, and you will use these programs (as you might of guessed to rollback your firmware).

Official iOS 4.3.3 / 4.2.8

After downloading your iOS, download TinyUmbrella and/or RecBoot. You will need them later on if you get an error message (and you will get one) to exit your iPhone from the Recovery Mode. Good, so you downloaded your materials, now it’s time to actually do it. There are 2 methods to do this,and both of them have been tried and tested and they all work, so if one fails, no fear, you can try another way.

Or, for a more detailed list, visit iPhoneJailbroken and download your preferred version.

1. Restore From Backup

Some people have said that this method does not work anymore, but then again, there are lots who say they do. For this to work, you will need an earlier backup of your iPhone, made on the iOS you want to install. For this restoration method, you won’t need to download a new iOS, but you will use TinyUmbrella. To do this downgrade, follow these steps:

Open TinyUmbrella, navigate to the “Advanced” tab and uncheck “Set Host to Cydia On Exit”. After doing so, click “Apply”.

Restart your computer (this is necessary)

Connect your iOS device to the computer and turn it on

Launch iTunes and if it shows you an error, just ignore it.

Enter the recovery mode on your device (hold down the Home button and power button at the same time for 10 seconds, then release only the power button, holding the home button down until iTunes tells you that your device has successfully entered recovery mode, after this, release the home button)

You can now restore with iTunes back to 4.3.3

In iTunes, restore your last backup to your iPhone

As I said, many have complained that this method does not work any more, but give it try, it might do it for you.

2.Manually Download and Install iOS

In order to do this, you have to download one of the iOS’s from before. After doing so, then you must navigate yourself to find the “hosts” file on your computer.

For Windows, go to: C:/Windows/System32/drivers/etc
For Mac: /etc/

Open the “hosts” file and make sure that there are no additional lines referring to Apple. If there are, be sure to delete them. Save the file and move on to the next step.

Now you have to open RedSn0w, click on “Extras”, then “PwnedDFU”. Your iPhone’s screen should remain black.

After doing this, go ahead and open TinyUmbrella. You will need to click on “Start TSS Server”.

After doing this, open iTunes, select your device, but don’t click Restore just yet. Hold down the Shift Key on your keyboard, and click Restore while holding it down. iTunes will now prompt you for the location of the iOS you want to install. Navigate to wherever you saved it and select it.

Now the installer starts. At some points you might encounter an error, to get past this, use TinyUmbrella (go to the “Advanced” tab and uncheck “Set Hosts to Cydia on Exit”). Now you can stop the TSS server and close TinyUmbrella.

Open once again RedSn0w and select “Extras”, click on “Recovery fix”. After the process is complete, you will notice the iPhone returning to the black screen.

If you’ve gotten to this point, you are just about done. Switch back to RedSn0w and select “Just Reboot”. Your iPhone starts in the older version iOS.

Downgrade iOS With iFaith

The process of downgrading with the help of iFaith is very similar with this one. iFaith offers the possibility both save your SHSH Blobs and also load new firmware on your device. To do this, follow these steps:

Open iFaith and click “Build *signed* IPSW w/ Blobs”. This will save your .ipsw file and SHSH Blobs for your current version of iOS.

When asked for your downgraded .ipsw, browse your computer for the old iOS file or download it directly with iFaith.

Now iFaith is creating your custom custom firmware.

After finishing the firmware file, go back to the homescreen of iFaith and select Use DFU Pwner (iREB) and put your phone in DFU mode.

Once you have done this, open iTunes and proceed just like the RedSn0w and TinyUmbrella version (Shift+click on “Restore” and select your newly created downgraded firmware).

Keep in mind that doing this rollback will wipe your iPhone clean, so be sure to backup your apps, files, contacts and other data before doing it. You will have to do Jailbreak all over again and sync your files and preferences. iOS 5 is, in itself a fairly good OS, I myself do not see why would someone want to change back to an older version, but then again, it’s just me. I hope I heled you get the information you needed and I’m not responsible if anyone brickes their phone trying to change OS’s. But hopefully, it won’t come to that.

Ionut Nedelcu Author I often wonder, where is technology heading? What do all of these advances mean for us and for our future? I sometimes miss the days when I didn’t know how to use a floppy disk, or how a computer CPU works, but now, until I find an answer to my questions, I’ll keep tracking these advances and show everything I find to those who share my interests.